Hosting a kids birthday party on a budget

Have you ever sat and added up the total costs of all of your children’s birthday parties? Whether they are at home, with all the frills or hired locations with hired equipment. A recent survey by Sunlife Direct shows just how much families across Britain are spending on a party. I live in between the London and East Anglia candle and on average it is about £90 per party, you can see the breakdown in the image below. So with Noah’s fifth birthday coming up, it really got me thinking about how he can have a fun birthday party without spending a fortune.

So how can I make Noah’s birthday party fun and not spend too much on his party? I have a lot of ideas and as usual, my first port of call is Pinterest. Looking at different ideas for making things myself and not buying it from a shop, or hiring it from someone else. Noah said he wants a LEGO party, which is not an easy thing to do cheaply as the nature of LEGO in itself, it isn’t a cheap thing!

The party ware

Why buy branded plates, cups and napkins? They just go in the bin. My idea is to get yellow coloured items, that are just plain yellow and I will get my Sharpie out and draw Lego faces on the cups and plates. Then use multi-coloured napkins to go with it. The great thing about LEGO is that it is colourful and blocky, which makes things like napkin colours easy.

The birthday cake

I am not going to buy a cake, it will be far cheaper to make a cake and decorate it. Also the effort and love of making his cake will be much more satisfying. I have a lot of ideas for what to do and I have lots of blocks of icing and marzipan to make LEGO brick decorations. I am really excited about it.

The party games

I thought this might be a tough one, but it really isn’t when you think creatively. Printing out colouring sheets with LEGO people, pass the parcel with LEGO men as the prizes inside, building competitions (see who can build a car first etc) and a LEGO and spoon race.

2 Comments

These sound like good ideas and Pinterest is a fab place to start. I think with younger children there’s an element of needing space, so hired rooms and soft play etc are easier but all the accompaniments come at a price. Generally the parents come to the younger kids parties and our house can’t fit everyone in! This year we are going to a farm and have got a deal where we get the goody bags, lunch, as well as farm entertainment as a package. I am looking forward to our farm party but also look forward to doing themed parties at our house when he’s older and the parents drop them off at the door. I’m sure it’ll bring a different kind of chaos! Enjoy your party planning! X

Thanks for the comment Hannah! A farm sounds amazing. We had the added trauma of school this year. I mean that in the sense of everyone in Noah’s class seems to be inviting the entire class and one of my friends recently had a party where school kids came, also uninvited siblings. Before you know it there’s 50 kids running around. I do not think a farm would want that haha.

So we have opted for close friends at home, in a controlled party! Lots of LEGO making for me this week 🙂 hehe x